While the latter seem to isolate a single attribute -- all-goodness, all-lovingness, all-powerfulness -- and decide the issue on that basis alone, the former simply emphasize a single attribute but cling to a more complex composite of divine "character."

"It will be deadlier than what was made on Nov. 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike," an unnamed North Korean military official said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency.

The Korean People's Army said in a statement relayed by the North's state media that its response this time "will be deadlier than what was made on Nov. 23 in terms of the powerfulness and sphere of the strike."